Tuesday, October 20, 2009

These are the days of life, the days of living. I often find myself pondering the future, both short term and long term. After I'm gone, what will the era I lived in be known for? Will it be the tipping point of a society that once held to Christian values, but now violently rejects them? It is not just that my country rejects biblical Christianity, I think we are witnessing the overtaking of popular opinion from a tolerance of Christianity to a violent hostility toward Christians. Throughout history, this has always been the case. Just as Jesus said we would suffer, we suffer, and the church has felt the world's enmity since the beginning, and will until the end. The reprieve America has felt the past 300 years has clearly been the exception, not the rule. A blessing that God, in his Sovereignty chose to bestow on a nation. That time may have already come to an end, or we may be in some sort of middle ground of transition. Either way, followers of Jesus Christ can expect increasing persecution in the days to come, and an all-out attack on the exclusive claims of the gospel. The exciting part about the unknown ahead rests in the Sovereignty of God, and in knowing that He will work all things to his glory. The church always has thrived under persecution, and the trials will weed out false converts among us. The prevalent values of the past few decades, of moralistic therapeutic deism make me sick to my stomach. The purging of these false doctrines encourages me and gives me hope for my own children. Our prosperity has produced laziness and apathy (myself included). So I look forward to the future, and pray that God will mold me into what He desires, even if means being pushed out of the comfort zone.

John 15:18-2018 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.